Kamen Rider Librarius (仮面ライダーリブラリウス Kamen Raidā Riburariusu)
by Nikitas Brentamir
Summary: Matsubara Akira, a young librarian working at Nakajima Library, discovers the talking Book of Qliphoth. Its resurgence has caused strange monsters to appear, leading to Akira becoming Kamen Rider Librarius. By forging an alliance with the Book of Qliphoth, Akira makes it his goal to recover the book's lost pages in order to stop the bizarre phenomena and uncover the perpetrator.
1. Page 1 - The Librarian, Matsubara Akira

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Hello, hello! Welcome to my first project on this site: _Kamen Rider Librarius_! I'm very excited to be sharing it with you! This new dialogue-heavy, episodic format is a new experience for me, but nonetheless I hope you enjoy _Librarius_ and share your opinions with me!

* * *

**DISCLAIMER**

This a fan-made, non-profit piece of fiction. Kamen Rider and its related trademarks are the property of Bandai Namco Entertainment and Toei Company.

* * *

_Earth.  
__A planet of many civilizations and many ideas.  
__Centuries of knowledge have been written down and passed on from one generation to the next in hopes of sustaining the world's historical and cultural reverence.  
__And yet, many questions remain unanswered to this day.  
__When did any of this start? Who was the first author? What knowledge was first written down?_

* * *

"The oldest fiction book?"

"Yes. I'd like to know what it is."

The man adjusted his glasses. "You are interested in such a book, Toyoda-san?"

The younger man, Toyoda, nodded. "Yes. Yamauchi says it was the _Iliad_, but I don't believe him. There must be an older tale, right, Matsubara-san?"

"Of course." he replied matter-of-factly. "It's called the _Epic of Gilgamesh_."

"The _Epic of Gilgamesh_?" Toyoda echoed excitedly. "Do we have it in this library?"

"That's right. Let me show you to it." The two started walking, with Matsubara leading them. "It's the earliest surviving great work of literature," Matsubara started, "With the first version of the combined, twelve-tablet epic dating back to the 18th century BC. For reference, Homer's _Iliad_ that you mentioned earlier was written around the 8th century BC."

"That's a ten thousand-year difference!" Toyoda exclaimed. "Wow, you really know your history, Matsubara-san. That's so cool!"

"Of course." Matsubara replied, seemingly oblivious to the compliment. "As a librarian, it is very important for my work performance that I know as much as possible about the subject material."

Once they'd reached their destination, Matsubara picked out the book from the shelf and handed it to Toyoda. It was a hardback edition with a simple, matte-black slipcase. The book itself was garnet-red, the cover depicting a bearded man holding two lions by their hind legs, one on each hand. After removing the slipcase and placing it under the crook of his arm, Toyoda skimmed the book's pages before promptly reading the summary in the back.

"I will borrow this!" Toyoda said with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.

"Okay, let's return to my desk and complete the registration."

After filling out the digital form and crediting Toyoda's ID card, Matsubara handed the book and exchanged bows.

"Thank you very much!" Toyoda said.

Matsubara watched him leave. _The oldest fiction book_, he silently mused. _But beyond it, what was the first written piece like? Does a copy still exist out there? Will I ever know?_

He quickly dismissed such notions and returned to his work.

* * *

"Akira-kun! Over here, Akira-kun!"

Matsubara looked away from the computer screen. The voice calling to him belonged to Nakatani Yusuke-san, the library's chief supervisor. He was a stumpy, middle-aged man with a round face and greying hairline. His glasses were crooked, tilting slightly to the left.

He instantly rose from his seat. "Nakatani-senpai. Good morning." Akira said with a bow.

Nakatani responded with the same, courteous gesture. "Good morning, Akira-kun. I have been looking for you." The supervisor had dismissed his coat due to the shift from winter to spring. Already sweat beads had begun forming on his temples.

"Can I help you, senpai?" Akira asked.

"Yes, yes, we received a batch of new books today." The supervisor took out a silken handkerchief from his shirt pocket and wiped his forehead. "Most of them are reprints; refined editions to replace our old, worn-out copies in the _Historical Archives_ branch, and they will need proper cataloguing. Okamoto-chan is currently unavailable, so I would like you to handle this matter instead. I am very sorry for asking you to do this at such short notice, Akira-kun." To that, Nakatani bowed once more.

"I'd be honored, senpai." Upon saying that, Akira circled his desk and bowed in front of his superior, followed up by him saying: "Excuse me," and starting his walk to the designated branch.

"Akira-kun, wait! Before you go!" The alert in Nakatani's voice successfully caused Akira to stop and turn. "You're a handsome young man. It'd benefit you quite a bit to not be so uptight all the time. Try to smile more." Nakatani said and emulated a grin for Akira to copy.

The latter looked away, considering the supervisor's words. When he met Nakatani's gaze again, he said, "A smiling lie is a whirlwind, easy to enter, but hard to escape."

"Stojanovic!" The quote brought a smile to Nakatani that was all teeth. For a brief second it seemed to be the same for Akira, though the supervisor couldn't say for certain, as his eager employee had turned and hurried to his task on a whim.

* * *

For a librarian with Akira's expertise, this process was easy.

By briefly checking the contents, he memorized the author, title, publication date, publication place, edition, isbn number and size of each book, then he charted a one-way course through the shelves, replacing the old copies as he went along.

He did that for all the books, except for one.

_What a strange case_, Akira thought as he examined the final book in his hand. It was the size of a travel journal, or a light novel, and lacked every feature necessary to catalogue it. Its cover, colored an unusual shade of blue, felt rubbery and coarse to the touch, and its spine was embossed with gold trimming and complex runic scripture. Upon opening the book, the first thing Akira noticed was the quality of paper. Partly yellowed by the sun and rough around the edges, the pages were masked in an odor that resembled oak. He flipped through them, his eyes moving from passage to passage. After several pages the language shifted, bringing with it a unique set of changes to the paragraphing and even the page layout.

"What is this?" Akira muttered to himself.

"_This_ would be the _Book of Qliphoth_!"

Akira's eyes shot open. "The book," his breath caught in his throat. "It just talked..!"

"Yes! I just di—"

Akira slammed the book shut. He was holding onto the shelf in fear of losing his balance. _Am I ill?_ he wondered as he sneaked a glance toward the book. _No, I'm sure of it. The voice came from the book!_

"_Mhh! Mh!_" the book whined in protest, reaffirming Akira's suspicions.

He walked to the start of the aisle and examined the open hallway for passer-bys. Once it was clear, he headed to the far end of the wing and opened the book again.

"_Pwah!_" it exhaled, though it had no lips or a mouth to draw breath from. "How rude!"

"Be quiet." Akira warned. "You are in a library. Be respectful of other visitors."

"Oh!" The book's voice shrunk down to a whisper. "Sorry."

"Who— _What_ are you?" Akira demanded. "And how can you talk?" His voice, let alone his overall demeanor, betrayed no sign of distress.

"Me? Why, I'm the _Book of Qliphoth_." the book stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I was there at the beginning, and I will be there at the end. My ink-strokes have penned the deeds of gods and— "

Akira shook the book. "Don't speak in riddles, book."

"So cruel…" the book remarked dizzily.

"You didn't answer my question. How can you talk? In fact, where are you from? How did you arrive in Nakajima Library?" Akira pressed.

"N-Nakajima Library? I'm in Japan?!" Though initially surprised, the book's voice quickly melted away into a sigh. "It's no good. I can't remember anything. I'm missing pages."

Akira's brows lifted in curiosity. He looked the book over, but didn't notice any tearings or faults in the glue-work for that matter.

"Your condition is fine, book." he voiced the result of his observation.

"No, it isn't! You can't see the damage because you don't recognize me as inherently magical!"

"That's because magic is not real." Akira replied matter-of-factly.

"Then how am I talking to you?!"

Akira thumbed his chin and thought about it for a short moment. "Fair point." he conceded.

"It was _that_ easy to convince you?!"

"Be quiet." Akira shook the book again until it grew silent. "Tell me what's written in the pages. Everything is in past languages, that much I could recognize."

"I'm a glorified journal." the book confessed. "Mankind's eternal record."

"What does that mean?" Akira inquired.

"And you, Matsubara Akira," the book carried on, ignoring the question. "Can hear my voice, thus you are my new owner."

Before Akira could wrap his head around the book's cryptic sentences, a cry from the front lobby reached his ears. Without a second thought, he closed the book and took it with him as he stormed out of the wing and into the open walkway.

* * *

What Akira saw at the entrance of the building made him freeze in disbelief.

A bizarre, bipedal jackal-looking creature was prowling the lobby. Its hunched form appeared to be near two meters tall in total. Its ears were perked and pierced, and a set of dreadlocks sprouted from the back of its scalp, while its grey pelage was clad in ornate armor that resembled the warriors of ancient Egypt; knee-guards and vambraces; animal hide circling its midsection; twin, golden khopesh blades curled between clawed fingers.

The creature gave a blood-curdling howl that sent people scrambling. "Book! Book!" it roared.

Swinging its blades in wild arcs, golden sand begun to coalesce, shaping itself into multiple figures. When they were complete and the dust had settled, the statues came alive; raggedy mannequins wrapped in poorly-applied bandages and dirty armor, and equipped with rusty sickles.

"Oh no!" the open book cried in Akira's grasp. "It's here! It's looking for me!"

"What is that?" Akira questioned. "Book, what do we do?"

The creature split the reception desk with a downward slash of its khopesh. All the while its goons ran rampant, tossing innocent civilians aside and trudging deeper into the library.

"Book." Akira repeated, the resolve in his voice stronger this time. "You mentioned two distinct details earlier. One, that you are inherently magical, and two, that I am your new owner. Tell me, do you have a countermeasure for this instance?"

As if it sensed Akira's determination behind his unwavering gaze, the _Book of Qliphoth_ replied with the same strength of tone.

"You, Matsubara Akira, who can hear my voice, can also read the hidden segment! " The pages shifted, turning rapidly to the near beginning, where the blank, yellowed pages revealed resurfacing blots of ink that came together into written, japanese characters.

"Quickly, memorize the sequence!"

"Understood."

* * *

The anthropomorphic jackal laughed as its troops vandalised the library. Its savage enjoyment was soon halted at the sight of Akira, the only human to traverse the steps and approach the creature instead of running away from it.

"You!" it cried. "Puny human! You have the book!"

"You are capable of speech." Akira noticed. His stance was firm and without a hint of fear.

"Are you mocking me, worm?!" the creature roared, visibly angry.

"You can form proper sentences and understand me, even. Good. Then hear this:

"My name is Matsubara Akira. I was born on January 1st, 1994, in Goshonotsutsumidai, Akita. I'm currently 177 cm tall and weigh approximately 68 kg. I finished high school at the top of my class and graduated from this here university, Akita International University, with a degree in Global Business. My favorite color is mahogany red and my favorite food is shottsuru ramen. I go to the gym six days a week and practise Shorinji kempo during four of these sessions. Before I sleep, I always make sure to stretch for approximately thirty minutes, then read a book in bed for another forty-five minutes. That way, I can sleep soundly for eight hours without the need for an alarm clock.

"There's three reasons behind my current actions." To that, Akira raised three fingers, lowering one after every reason.

"Firstly, the financial setback caused by your incident would affect not only the university, but the entire prefecture. Secondly, a lot of lost knowledge would be denied from future generations. Thirdly, I love Nakajima library, as well as working here. I'm saying all of this so that you may understand that I didn't actively wish for this confrontation, though I do encourage the alternative of discourse."

The creature barked with laughter. "What is all this you are saying, human?! I don't care about any of it! Do you try to defeat me with your pointless rambling?! Are you mad?!"

"No." Akira replied matter-of-factly. "You misjudge me. I support _constructive_ discourse. When the opinions of two intellectuals differ, I find it very important to have a calm, civilised discussion. That way, both parties can learn from each other and reach an understanding. Even if they agree to disagree, they can both grow as individuals."

Once he had concluded, Akira raised the talking book. Immediately the monster turned its golden eyes onto it. "Book! _You_ have the book! Give me it, you babbling mortal!"

"You display neither the interest, nor the attitude for a healthy discourse." Akira countered. "As a librarian, it is very important for my work performance that I know how to handle ruffians such as yourself."

Akira closed the book with one hand and pushed back his coat with the other, revealing a black, leather belt with an oversized buckle. He then lowered the _Book of Qliphoth_, slamming its spine on the latch that protruded from the aforementioned buckle.

The book clicked in place. Secured by the latch, Akira craned the book forward, lowering it until it was parallel to the floor. Re-opening the book in front of his waist, the pages now glowed with a brilliant white light.

With a sharp bend of the elbow, Akira brought his hand before his face and licked his outstretched thumb. He proceeded to grab hold of the page's corner with the same, moistened finger.

"Henshin." he called and flipped the page. A beam of light shot up from within the book, bringing into reality an enormous, spectral quill.

"I feel it!" shouted the _Book of Qliphoth_. "The quill that shapes the pages of the _Book of Prophecy!_"

As if in response to the words, the floating quill pointed its tip toward Akira, scratching at his form with swift, yet manic scribbles. Soon enough, Akira had been drowned in a web of silky lines, similarly colored to the light bursting from the book's contents.

"Its name is..!"

**KAMEN RIDER!**

The final declaration caused the light to erupt and from the center of the explosion surfaced a warrior wearing tight-fit, gold-trimmed sapphire plating of ancient, arcane power and a helmet fashioned after a feathered, golden scarab beetle.

**LIBRARIUS APPRENTICUS!**

"Now then," Akira said, giving the creature a thumbs up before before promptly turning it upside down. "Allow me to show you the exit."

The creature let out a sharp cry. Both it and Akira commenced sprinting forward on a one-way collision course. Khopesh blades raised, the monster swung at Akira, but its arms were caught in a counter-grip. Akira exploited the beast's momentum to rotate his body a full 180 degrees, accumulating enough power to send it flying out of the front door and onto the courtyard.

It crashed and rolled on the pavement as its lackeys surrounded Akira. One by one they rushed him, but the Kamen Rider gave no ground. He repaid their sickle-reaps with brass-knuckled punches and roundhouse kicks, with backflips and on-the-spot tumbles, utilizing the chaos to turn the tables in his favor with near surgical precision.

By the time the head of the enemy party had regained its composure, its subordinates were writhing on the ground, just as the jackal had a short moment ago.

"You worm! You dare defy me?!" The monster brandished its blades with a snarl. "Get on your knees and beg for forgiveness!"

"Correction." Akira countered with his own, immovable fighting stance, a single palm raised in defiance. "If you don't realize and apologize for your misconduct, I will have to take more urgent measures."

"I fight to the death, mortal! Give me the book!"

Akira straightened his posture. "Never compromise," he said, opening the book strapped on his belt and reaching in to pull a long, spear-like weapon that resembled more an elongated quill with an extremely thin and pointy tip. He spun the spear in his grip before counterpoising it under the crook of his arm.

"Not even in the face of armageddon."

With a cry, the monster ran at his adversary, already swinging its khopesh wildly. Its charge was met by Akira's quill-spear, expertly countering and parrying the frontal assault of curved blades without so much as a backstep of hesitation. With a clean thrust and an almost playful swing, he successfully disarmed the jackal within a quarter of a second.

"Wha—"

The creature didn't even have time to finish as Akira hurled the back of his weapon out and upward, aiming at the creature's jaw and successfully sending it flying as a result. Tossing the spear aside, Akira fell back, lifting his legs from the floor and folding his arms over his shoulders to press against the concrete pavement adjacent to his head.

"Special finisher," he said and sprung his entire body off the ground. With a subtle curve of his figure, the amalgamated power and speed turned him into a human drill, headed squarely for the monster's chest.

**RIDER KICK!**

Akira slammed into the jackal, boring into the creature with such ferocity that he burst through it in a matter of seconds.

The ensuing explosion of the monster was a bright-lit backdrop for Akira's victory.

* * *

"Nakatani-senpai."

The stumpy man turned. His eyes were heavy-lidded as he wiped his forehead with his silken handkerchief.

"Ah! It's you, Akira-kun. Are you okay? They didn't hurt you, did they?"

Akira shook his head. "No. What about you, Nakatani-senpai?"

"Don't worry about me, Akira-kun, I'm fine. I found a place and hid until the incident was resolved. At my age, I'm no good for a fight."

"You did well to hide, sir." Akira reassured his supervisor.

"By the way, did you see _him_, Akira-kun?" Akira's deadpan expression and lack of reply prompted Nakatani to carry on. "The sophomores say a masked hero showed up and defeated the monster!"

Akira cleared his voice as he adjusted his tie-pin. It was an antique silver clip with a jade beetle at its end.

"Really?"

"I'm not sure myself! Luckily for us, the tussle didn't cause much damage beyond a broken desk at the front lobby. These punks took it outside. If only I was a couple of years younger, I'd show that freak!" Nakatani raised his fists and tossed some jabs, though after a while he got sweaty and stopped.

"We do, however, need to realign our shelves." He exhaled. "Well, we have a couple of hours before closing time, Akira-kun. I think it's more than enough to prepare everything for tomorrow."

"I will arrange it, Nakatani-senpai."

Nakatani's relief returned the ruddiness to his cheeks. "Thank you, Akira-kun! I wouldn't know what to do without you! Really, thank you!"

"As a librarian, it's part of my job." Akira answered with laconic directness and proceeded to the nearest vandalized aisle.

* * *

He took the _Book of Qliphoth_ from where he'd left it, opened it and sat it on one of the shelves. He then began picking up any fallen books and silently, diligently cataloguing them by order of title.

"Great work, Akira!" the book exclaimed.

"I told you to be quiet." Akira retorted by shooting a glare at it. After putting a book back in its place, he continued. "I don't like to repeat myself unless I deem it necessary."

"You're so mean…" the _Book of Qliphoth_ grumbled.

When Akira was ready to move on, he took the book with him and set it on the adjacent shelf. "I wanted to ask you something." he started. "After I took off the belt, I found this." He fished something out of his pocket, unfolded and held it in front of him, prompting a gasp out of the book.

"It's one of my pages! This will be very helpful to us!"

"You mean to tell me these monsters are _your_ by-product?"

"Yes. I mean, no! I mean…" the book paused. "Well, I'm not sure. I know for a fact that I'm missing pages. Each and every one of my pages has stored magical properties. What if the magic became turbulent during its absence from the whole and manifested as a violent deformity?"

"It's plausible." Akira nodded. "Are they attracted to you?"

"I don't think so, no, or else the prefecture would've been in trouble much sooner."

"I see. In that case," Akira grabbed the open book. "I propose a temporary alliance."

"Eh?" The book asked, its puzzlement evident. "Whatever do you mean?"

"We will find your lost pages, book. Once you are complete, I will catalogue you to the library archives and our alliance will expire. That way, both of us will be content and able to carry on with our lives."

"_Hm_!" The _Book of Qliphoth_ liked what it heard. "You got yourself a deal, Matsubara Akira! But I will warn you now. Greater challenges await for us down this treacherous path."

"I don't care, book." Akira replied with a stoic lack of interest.

"You're so cruel..! And stop calling me '_book_'!"

* * *

**NEXT TIME**** ON**: _Kamen Rider Librarius_!

"_Whatever shall we do?_"  
"_This place is miserable._"  
"_I can't abandon it! Not now!_"  
"_You know what, old man? I think I'm starting to dislike you less._"  
**Dominus!**


	2. Page 2 - The Drifter, Gingka

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: The 2nd chapter of _Librarius_ is here! I hope you enjoy reading it! Thank you very much for all of your feedback!

* * *

**DISCLAIMER**

This a fan-made, non-profit piece of fiction. Kamen Rider and its related trademarks are the property of Bandai Namco Entertainment and Toei Company.

* * *

"Good morning!" chimed a girl's voice along with the bell that hung above the entrance door.

An elderly man turned from behind the register. His hairline was grey and receded, but his thin smile was warm with kindness.

"Ah, Suzuki-chan, good morning! Welcome!" he said with a courteous bow.

"How are you, Kubo-san?"

"As good as a man my age can be!" mister Kubo nodded. "How about you, Suzuki-chan?"

Suzuki smiled. "I'm doing good, thank you! I came for the package. Did it arrive?"

"The what?" the older man asked before recollection struck him. "Oh! The arrivals! I see, yes, it's here!" he said and reached under the counter. "Forgive me, Suzuki-chan, even when I have nothing to do, I still manage to forget!"

"It's okay, Kubo-san." Suzuki assured him. "You don't need to stress yourself."

Mister Kubo resurfaced with a large, carton box. With Suzuki's help they cut the tape and searched its contents.

"That's it, right?" Mister Kubo adjusted his round spectacles. "Huh? It's in another language."

Suzuki nodded in affirmation. "It's German. It's pronounced _Franz Kafka_."

"Furanzu Kafuka." mister Kubo echoed. "That's his name, huh?" His eye caught the author's picture at the rightmost section of the cover. It was an old polaroid, refitted in a golden background. "Woah, he almost looks japanese! So serious, too." he laughed.

"He is." Suzuki agreed. "His work is very personal, it reflects his character a lot."

"Can I ask you something about that, Suzuki-chan?"

"Please." she replied.

"Why did you ask for me to order the original print? I'm sure I could've found it in Japanese."

Suzuki shook her head. "It's not for me. It's for my fiance."

"Ah, that serious young man. I see. He's a little scary, not in a bad way of course!" mister Kubo corrected himself and bowed apologetically. "Well, he's almost like this Kafuka person, judging by the way you describe him."

"That's a funny observation, Kubo-san!" Suzuki couldn't stop herself from giggling.

Mister Kubo waved his hand. "That's just me talking crazy! I'm sure his heart is in the right place, otherwise you wouldn't be engaged to him."

"Yes, he's a brilliant man."

"If he can read this, then I believe you."

"How much do you think it costs?"

Mister Kubo looked it over and gave it some thought. "Hardback, about one thousand pages… I would say 1500 yen would be okay."

Suzuki took out a 5000 yen bill from her purse. "I would like back half of it, please."

"O-one thousand yen tip?!" mister Kubo stammered. "Suzuki-chan, this is too much!"

Suzuki shook her head. "It's okay, Kubo-san. You are reliable and that's what my fiance appreciates about you. It's very important to him that he receive his books in time."

Left speechless and moved, mister Kubo expressed his gratitude with a silent bow, then he put the book inside a plastic bag, handed it over to Suzuki along with the change and waved her goodbye.

"Please come again!"

* * *

Later that day, when the door opened and the bell chimed again, mister Kubo's heart leapt into his throat.

A towering crocodile, standing in its hind legs, had stalked inside the bookstore. The skin in its bulging, bizarrely human arms and legs was a deep shade of red, whereas its sternum and face a sickly swamp's green. It wore a golden breastplate emblazoned with a winged creature and shoulderguards topped by ruby spikes. The armor was held together by a network of leather straps that went up and over the creature's scaled back, and circled around to its chest.

Its nostrils flared with hot air. "Book." it grumbled. "Where is it?"

"Oni," mister Kubo muttered, paralyzed by fear. "It's an oni… "

The hulking monstrosity took a step forward. An oversized fist whose coarse, grey texture resembled stone, lifted a nearby book stand. After smelling it, the creature let the stand drop and it crashed with a loud, metallic clang.

"Where is it?!" the beast roared. "I've looked everywhere!" Its nostrils expanded and contracted rapidly. With a sudden turn, the oni looked over its shoulder.

"I smell it. It's close, I smell it!" Hurriedly, it turned tail and bolted out of the bookstore.

"What is happening..?" mister Kubo wondered aloud. Still shaking, he nevertheless pushed himself past the counter and hesitantly peeked his head out from behind the door.

The crocodile oni stood in the middle of the street, as if in anticipation. Every car that was headed towards it had stopped and the drivers had exited their cars and promptly ran away.

Everybody fled, except for one.

Mister Kubo squinted his eyes. "Am I dreaming?"

It was a warrior.

Dressed in full-body armor the color of glittering sand, he was weaving between the cars with a book in front of his face. He was approaching the monster nonchalantly, and only when he was close enough did he raise his look from the pages.

"Excuse me." he said. The syllables of each word were drawn out, purposefully giving them a provocative edge.

"Is he crazy..?!" mister Kubo gasped.

"You! Monster!" the warrior continued, pointing his finger accusedly at the crocodile. "I don't mean to disturb you, but I am enjoying my book here," he gestured to the book in his hand. "I love this book. I've read it more than one hundred times. In fact, I enjoy it so much that I can hardly tear my eyes off of its contents, so I want to be careful where I walk.

"You, however, are in my way. Listen, because I won't be any kinder about this: Get out of my way. You don't want us to run into each other and accidentally hurt ourselves, do you? That would be very unfortunate. But then again," he tilted his head. "What do I know?"

The crocodile let out a guttural roar. "_You_ have the book!" No sooner had it howled the words than it had commenced a rabid charge. "Give it to me!"

"Somebody is being very rude right now." the warrior regarded.

The monster came at him, jaws snapping violently. The moment it was a quarter of an inch away from chomping the warrior in half, however, was also the moment the latter closed his book, and like the small rush of wind that came and went after it had been shut, the monster disappeared.

The warrior raised his hands in the air, palms open and fingers outstretched; a magician that had nothing to hide.

"_Dojyaaa~~n_! It's gone~!"

* * *

"Revert."

The armor scattered from the man's body like sand in the wind. He stepped inside the bookstore, set straight a fallen stool and sat on it, then he carried on reading his book.

"Young man," mister Kubo approached him. "You were the one who stopped the monster, right?"

The man seemed immersed in his book, to the point where he didn't care about any surrounding noise.

Mister Kubo fell on his knees and bowed his head between his hands. "Thank you! Thank you for saving this humble store!"

"Hey, geezer." the man's eyes peeked over the raised book. Immediately mister Kubo lifted his head.

"This place is miserable."

"Wha— "

"There's too much dust everywhere, I'm afraid I'll choke. Don't you ever clean it? If you're too old to do the work yourself just hire a cleaning lady. They're not worth a fortune, you know. And stop staring at me, haven't they taught you that it's rude? At least be useful and make some tea. You better have mint."

Mister Kubo swallowed. He got up and headed for the small kitchen behind the counter. He proceeded to brew some water for the stranger that had saved his store.

For the remainder of the day he was silent, disposing of the broken rack and squeezing the books previously stacked there into nearby shelves. All the while the young man enjoyed his book and sipped his tea, not once averting his gaze.

When the sun had set, mister Kubo spoke up. "I need to close now. Please leave with me." he bowed.

"No need, geezer. Leave me here and lock up. Think of me as a guard dog. You don't even need to pay me. Besides, it's not like you have anything valuable to steal."

"Don't say ridiculous things, youngster. I am grateful that you sent away that monster, truly I am, but this is too much!"

"I didn't do it for you." The stranger met mister Kubo's gaze, cold as ice. "It's simple. I just didn't feel like fighting the monster today, so I teleported it about two hundred kilometres away. It'll be back for me tomorrow."

"Back?! That o-oni?! Whatever shall we do?"

"_You_ won't do anything, geezer. _I_, on the other hand, will eventually find the mood to kill it. It already knows about this place, so until it comes, I'll wait for it here."

Frustrated, mister Kubo said nothing. Instead he removed his green apron and threw it on his feet, turned the sign to 'Closed' and exited without saying a word.

The young man stared for several seconds before resuming his read.

"What a strange geezer."

* * *

The next morning mister Kubo found his green apron neatly folded atop the stool. The stranger was hunched behind the register.

"Good morning!"

"Yo!" The young man straightened himself. He was holding a feather duster.

"Why are you back, geezer?" his face soured. "Didn't you hear me yesterday? Do you forget to clean the wax from your ears after you bathe or something? That's not very healthy."

Mister Kubo smiled at him. "I see you're cleaning."

"Well," the man without a name pouted. "Somebody had to do it. It's your fault, you know. You looked at me all sad yesterday and guilt-tripped me into doing your chores."

"I did _what_?!"

"Yeah, that's right! Don't play dumb with me, you exploitative geezer!"

Mister Kubo raised his hands in denial. "I didn't do any of that!"

"Then why are you here, huh?!" the stranger flapped the feather duster at him. "Maybe you felt guilty and came back to give me a tip for my volunteer work!"

"That's not it at all! It's because I made a decision last night!"

The young man stopped. The awkward silence put a stop to his theatrical tirade.

"It weighed on my heart. It was so heavy, it wouldn't let me sleep.

"Listen, youngster. Ishikawa Book Store is all that's left of my family. My wife, when she was still alive, worked the store with me. Our daughter was studying in Ōdate. She wanted to be a nurse."

As he talked, mister Kubo bit back tears. "One day my daughter, my dear Sachi, told me she didn't enjoy her university anymore, and that she wanted to work with her parents. We supported her decision and went to celebrate. Together, the three of us. That same day we had a car accident. Neither of them survived.

"This bookstore is all that I have left to remember them. That's why I refuse to let you or that oni wreck it! I can't abandon it! Not now!"

The young man's gaze didn't waver. "You know what, geezer?" he walked up to mister Kubo and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm starting to dislike you less."

At that point mister Kubo noticed the stack of books on the counter; large hardbacks with four raised bands on each spine.

"Those are— My photo albums!"

"I finished my book early and got bored." the young man said. "I always wanna do something when I'm bored. I've read every book you have here and didn't wanna bother reading them again. Instead I chose to clean and I found these.

"I'm not dumb, you know. The last photo on that album," - He pointed to the second-to-last album. - "wrote 'Celebrating with daughter' on the back, but there are no more photographs after that. The book at the bottom is still wrapped in cellophane."

Mister Kubo was at a loss for words.

"Mourn for them all you want, geezer," the stranger continued. "I don't blame you, but make sure you stay inside and let me pummel that freak alone. You'd just die if you intervened. If you ask me, it's better to live and carry on their memory. But then again," he gave mister Kubo a side glance. "What do I know?"

He let go and opened the door, causing the bell to chime.

"Okay, show time." he exhaled and exited.

Mister Kubo had started weeping. "Thank you, young man," he said between sobs. "Thank you…"

* * *

Even when he faced the monster a second time, he was enamored by the contents of his precious book.

"I am back!" the crocodile beast bellowed. "Now give me the book, or else..!"

"Excuse me," the stranger replied in his characteristic, mocking tone. "I have a complaint about you."

"What did you say?!"

"You always state the obvious. Personally, I don't like doing it, but for you it seems to be the exact opposite. In fact, it's second nature. Either you're too stupid to notice, or you like to play at being stupid so you can annoy me. But then again," the stranger closed his book.

In a smooth motion, he unzipped his leather jacket with his free hand and pulled it back to reveal an auburn leather belt strapped around his waist. Its belt buckle was a chunky clip of shining silver.

"What do I know?"

He raised the closed book next to his face, then brought it down and onto the buckle. The fore edge clicked in place and the entire belt resonated with a smooth whistle.

**DOMINUS!**

The young man swished his arms forward, holding them parallel to the ground. He then moved them back and crossed them before his chest, his hands posed in a finger-gun posture.

"Henshin."

Weaving his arms in a downward arc, the wrists grazed the book that was now glowing with stored, arcane power. Upon contact the book shot itself away from the buckle, its pages and the letters within spilling out and around the stranger.

Individual letters hovered closer and bunched together to form new words; new sentences that, when pronounced in the voices of distant, cosmic beings, broke down once more in order to be brought together in different ways.

**ANCIENT, FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE!  
WHAT'S THE KEY TO BREAK THE SEAL?!**

**KAMEN RIDER!**

The final set of words threw themselves at the stranger, the collision showering him in thick, red smoke. When it cleared he stood clad in glassy, amber armor topped by a sleeveless open coat of a chestnut hue. The entirety of his left arm was embellished with the figure of a golden lion, while his helmet resembled a compact nemes.

**LIBRARIUS VENEFICUS!**

The book was in his hand and once more he seemed to be immersed in it, as if nothing had ever happened.

The monster tilted its head, evidently confused at the lack of action.

"Well?" the warrior inquired. "I don't have all day, you know. Unless you got cold feet since last time," he shrugged. "It's perfectly okay to be scared."

"You are mocking me!" the crocodile snarled and punched the ground in blind anger. "You will die for that! I won't show any mercy!"

The monster charged, running with the sole intent of murder. A mass of bunched muscle and animalistic rage, it was headed alarmingly fast toward the Kamen Rider.

"I'll show you how pathetic this match really is," the Kamen Rider declared.

He promptly walked out of the crocodile's line of advance with a casual side-step. Despite its momentum, however, the monster had successfully stirred itself to a perfect stop next to him, exploiting this window of opportunity to slam the ground with its rock-imbued fists.

The impact caused the ground to collapse under their feet, something which the Kamen Rider swiftly avoided by using the monster's bent knees as stepping stones and climbing on its back.

"Woah, there! You don't want to rock too hard. What if I get hurt?"

The crocodile bellowed and fell backwards, further deepening the crater with its drop. It rolled over with a readied fist, but the Kamen Rider was nowhere to be found.

"Boring," the latter's voice sounded from a short distance away. The crocodile jumped out of the hole and spotted the Kamen Rider feigning interest in window-shopping. "Don't you have goons? Maybe _they_ would present a better challenge."

"Enough! Time to show you my true power!"

It bent over, scraping its bare feet on the ground. Nostrils flaring with hot air, the monster cried out with furious power and dashed toward the Kamen Rider. So fast was the acceleration that its visage had turned to a blur of green, red and gold.

"I've already told you," the Kamen Rider retorted. "I'll show you the difference between me and a pathetic freak like you."

He shut the book, the sudden soundwave carrying in the air as loud as a thunderclap. The detonation then crashed into the crocodile from above and grounded him to the pavement; an invisible force violently pushing its body flat with gravitational might.

"Wha— What is this?!" it roared.

"Shut up and listen," the Kamen Rider strode closer. "My name is Giruga. Can you remember that?"

"I will kill you!"

"I'll say it again because I'm feeling generous. _Giruga_. Memorize it well. That way, when you return to the whole, you'll know who I am when I claim you."

The monster thrashed, struggling - and failing - to claw at Giruga.

"You almost make me want to laugh. Or cry. I don't know what's worse in this case. But then again," he said as he turned on his heel and raised his free hand.

"What do I know?"

With a snap, the immense force slammed the monster with thrice the original power, compressing its body to the breaking point.

**VICTORIA ETERNAM!**

With a final cry, the monster erupted in a fiery plume that glazed Giruga's armor in a triumphant sheen.

* * *

"Can I ask you something, Giruga-chan?"

Giruga looked at him funny. "Sure. Don't call me that though, it's creepy."

"You're not japanese, are you?"

"No." Giruga admitted.

"I thought so," mister Kubo nodded. "Your name isn't japanese, after all."

"That's because you lot spell my name wrong and I can't blend in properly," Giruga complained. "Don't you have anything that sounds similar?"

Mister Kubo gave it some thought. "I've got it!" he exclaimed. "How about Gingka?"

"Gingka." the young man echoed. "I like it, geezer."

Mister Kubo smiled. "But if you're not from Japan, what are you doing here? And where are you headed?"

"What's the biggest library around these parts?" Gingka asked.

"The biggest library? Are you looking for a book?"

"Yeah. You definitely don't have it, so don't expect any money from me."

"That's so cruel…" mister Kubo sighed in jest.

"For one," Gingka said, "I know that this book is somewhere in Japan. It's not owned by anybody, so I visit the biggest libraries. My last pit stop was in Kanazawa Umimirai."

"You came all the way from Ishikawa?!"

Gingka nodded. "I just follow the ocean until I circle the country." he carved the trail with a raised finger.

Mister Kubo crossed his arms. "The biggest library… Oh! There's Nakajima Library! It's near Goshonotsutsumidai! You can reach it with the Ou Main Line, it's between stations Yotsugoya and Wada, to the south."

"South?" Gingka groaned. "That's the opposite way. What a bother. I don't like using trains either."

"You're young, Gingka. I'm sure it'll be no problem for you to walk there."

Gingka almost spat his tea. "_Walk_ there?! Are you crazy, geezer? Weren't you listening when I beat that freak? I'm called a Kamen Rider, not a Kamen Walker. I got a bike."

"Where is it parked?" mister Kubo asked.

"It isn't parked anywhere. It's inside the book."

"Inside? How is that possible?"

"How is a walking, talking crocodile monster possible?! Aren't you paying attention?!"

"Maybe the police confiscated it and he doesn't want to admit it." mister Kubo mumbled to himself.

Gingka's head dropped concedingly. "You're a hopeless old fool…"

* * *

In the short amount of time it took for mister Kubo to lock the door and turn around, Gingka had mounted his motorcycle. It was a compact-looking ride the color of glossy jet, built around a double-pipe, perimeter-style frame.

"A Kawasaki, huh?" mister Kubo looked in awe. "You know, I used to have a Honda when I was your age. It was very beautiful. It was black too, like yours."

"I saw it in the albums," Gingka said. "Did it have a name?"

"Yes, of course it had one," mister Kubo nodded. "Hikari, like my first crush in elementary school."

"What happened to it, geezer?"

"Oh, I sold it. When I got married, I decided a car was better. Besides, my wife always wanted a Toyota, like the one her father had."

To that, Gingka grinned. "That's ironic. Letting go of your first crush to make your wife happy."

Mister Kubo chuckled. "Yes, I suppose it is."

Gingka pressed the ignition and tested the neutral. The bike purred underneath him.

"Geezer!" His shift in tone caught the older man's attention.

"Do your best, okay? Work hard and make your family proud! And if you can't do it alone, hire a helper, you stingy old fool!"

He switched gears, turned the handle bar and sped off before mister Kubo could form a sentence.

Belatedly, he replied with, "Thank you, Gingka. Do your best," and bowed in gratitude.

* * *

**NEXT TIME ON**: _Kamen Rider Librarius!_

"_What are you exactly?_"  
"_Don't get ahead of yourself._"  
"_It's not yours to have._"  
"_What do I know?_"  
**Animus!**


	3. Page 3 - Librarian Versus Drifter

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Despite a 1-week delay, the 3rd Chapter of _Librarius_ is finally here! I apologize for my absence, I took a week off to go on holiday, but I made sure to use my time to its fullest and did more research for _Librarius _while I relaxed. Thank you very much for your patience! I hope you enjoy reading this chapter!

* * *

**DISCLAIMER**

This a fan-made, non-profit piece of fiction. Kamen Rider and its related trademarks are the property of Bandai Namco Entertainment and Toei Company.

* * *

"Where are we, Akira?"

"Okutsubakidai Yuwatsubakigawa."

"What a tongue twister!" the _Book of Qliphoth_ exclaimed.

"Specifically," Akira continued. "We're one hundred and eighty metres eastward from Nakajima Library's front entrance. Measured in seconds," he checked his watch. "It's approximately a 2-minute walk."

"So that means we're in…" It took the book a second to process the information. "The woods?" it asked, evidently puzzled.

"As a librarian, it is very important for my work performance that I take a regulated lunch break." Akira said matter-of-factly.

The young man stopped walking once the tree coverage around him had thinned. He proceeded to set down the book and plastic bag he'd been carrying with him, placing both of them beside a trunk.

"Couldn't you do it at your workplace?" the book wondered aloud.

Akira thumbed his chin in thought. "Tell me, book, do you know Nolan Ryan?"

"No." it replied, followed by, "Should I? Is he important?"

All the while Akira was taking off his coat and neatly folding it.

"He's an american former Major League Baseball pitcher and eight-time All-Star. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1999."

There, he paused and stretched his legs. After several test bends, he committed to a singular squat before springing upward. He then hopped in place for several seconds, keeping his body upright while going around in circles.

He carried on, unphased. "He had said in an interview, 'Everyone has limits. You just have to learn what your own limits are and deal with them accordingly.'"

After several minutes Akira stopped, rolled up his sleeves and started on a set of jabs.

"When we agreed to a cooperation," he said between breaths. "I contemplated a time gap in which I could better understand and monitor my new abilities." - At this point his pace had slackened, so he ended the set. - "I decided that, during work days, twenty minutes of conditioning, followed by ten minutes of eating and another ten to spare are enough."

"Oh, I get it!" the _Book of Qliphoth_ said once everything had clicked in place. "I like your attitude, Matsubara Akira! Alright, I'm fired up! Let's do it!"

The book's enthusiasm was short-lived when faced with Akira's impassive response.

"Be quiet."

"That's so cruel. Now I don't wanna! No way! No w—" Any further protest was halted when Akira closed the book.

"I'd do it anyway." he replied candidly. "I have a routine for every day of the week. When it's set, I follow it through to the end."

Connecting book to belt, Akira transformed into Librarius Apprenticus and commenced his testing by first striving for the highest possible jump. He did one, two, three short hops and then bounced.

So high was Akira's jump arc that his peak surpassed the treetops by a margin.

"Incredible." was all he could muster during that short moment of levitation. "Judging the relative height of these trees, my jump has got to be near fifteen meters high. That's almost three times as much as a white-tailed jackrabbit's and six times that of the world record set by Javier Sotomayor in 1993."

Akira was more surprised still when he spun in place for two minutes straight without experiencing an ounce of dizziness. "Not even ballerinas with their 'spotting technique' and years of practise can ignore the throb in their ears for so long, not even during Swan Lake's thirty-two Fouettes."

Lastly he tested his punching speed. "My ordinary tempo is two to three punches per second," Akira considered during his flurry. "But now I can punch as fast as fifteen punches per second. Bruce Lee's speed was measured at about seven punches per second. To outpace Bruce Lee by double the speed, it's simply… Incredible."

* * *

"So what did you think, Akira?"

Akira didn't answer.

Inside the plastic bag had been a lunch box and a water bottle. With his training concluded, Akira had sat down to eat. He first ate a baby tomato, then two pieces of fried chicken, some spinach and corn saute, three pieces of rolled omelette and finally a rice ball, which he ate in two, equally portioned bites.

"Akira?" the _Book of Qliphoth_ called.

The young man sipped half of his water. He then finished the second half of his meal by repeating the previous eating sequence. He had saved the chunky piece of broccoli for last.

"Hey, Akira?" the book repeated.

Chugging the last of his water, Akira set down his chopsticks and pressed his palms together.

"Thank you for the meal." he bowed.

"Hey, are you ignoring me?!"

"I do not talk while eating." Akira stated. "I find it disrespectful towards the cook if I don't enjoy my meal to its fullest."

"You don't cook your meals?"

"No. I can't cook." Akira said with a straight face.

"Is he still living with his mom?" the book mumbled.

"Book." The _Book of Qliphoth_ straightened at Akira's elevated tone. "Show me the page I acquired."

"The page?" it echoed. "Oh, that one. Sure."

It flipped through the pages, scrolling to the near beginning. The page in question, page twelve, had been harmoniously realigned with the text block. It was as if it had never been separated. Akira skimmed through the contents in silence.

"Hey, hey! What does it say?"

Akira looked away. "It's in an old language."

"Do you know which one?"

"Yes. It's ancient Greek. This letter, here," he tapped the spot with his index. "It's similar to the English 'w', but is spelled 'omega'. And the dash above it is a diacritic called a circumflex, like in French."

"Ah, I see! So what does it say?"

"I don't know." Akira replied plainly. "I don't understand it."

"That's so anticlimactic." the book groaned.

"I recognize some words, but for the rest I will have to consult a dictionary from the library later today."

"Good idea!" the _Book of Qliphoth _assured him. "We have time to spare, right? Why don't we go now?"

Akira checked his watch. Without a word, he packed his empty lunch box and water bottle and set out with the open book still in his hand.

"I want to ask you something, book." Akira said with slight suddenness.

"Hm? What is it?"

"You're sentient. Do you have a name? In fact, what are you exactly?"

The _Book of Qliphoth_ gave the questions some thought. "Well, I'm a book, that's certain! The rest…" it paused to improve its recollection. "It's no use," it conceded. "I can't remember! I only know that I'm a book!"

"You need a name." Akira insisted.

"Isn't _Book of Qliphoth_ a name?" the book argued.

"It's too long. As a librarian, it is important for my work performance to be practical."

"Then do _you_ have any ideas, smart aleck?!"

"I do." Akira stared impassively. He was building tension before his reveal. "Boq." he declared.

"Eh?" was all it could say to that. Then it dawned on the book...

Boq; B.O.Q.; (_**B**__)ook (__**O**__)f (__**Q**__)liphoth_.

"Ehhh..?!"

"Yes." Akira nodded, his voice bolstered by confidence. "Boq."

Something was tugging at Akira's mouth, a spastic muscle contraction near the left corner of his lip.

"He finds it funny." Boq concluded. "He's trying to smile. That's so creepy…"

* * *

Once he was back at campus, Akira strode with purpose to Nakajima Library.

"Yo!" a voice sounded behind him. Ordinarily, Akira wouldn't have paid it any heed, only now it had been followed up with, "You, with the book!"

Cooly, Akira turned around. Opposite him stood somebody that definitely didn't pass for a college attendant: A man, estimated to be around thirty-five years old and near the 180 cm mark and 75 kg weight class, was staring him down behind a tangled mess of dark hair. Another notable feature was his Japanese Van Dyke beard, which, when compared to the aforementioned hairstyle, was trimmed and proper.

* * *

"You fell for it." Gingka chuckled. "I searched the library and didn't find it, but I had a gut feeling it'd be near here. Hey, don't look at me like that." he pointed at the young man accusingly. "I can't explain it very well, okay? Cut me some slack. Also, haven't your parents taught you it's rude to stare?"

_I already dislike him_. Gingka thought. Judging solely by looks, the young man wasn't anybody special. In fact, he looked like every other Japanese male he'd come across: His face was clean shaven, he had a bowl haircut and wore glasses. None of it was outstanding whatsoever. _Whatever attracted the Book of Prophecy to this staring weirdo?_

* * *

Realizing Akira's resolution wouldn't waver, the stranger shook his head. "Well, it doesn't matter." he conceded. "See, I had planned to go around the campus and yell until somebody took the bait. I didn't expect to find you so quickly.

"Now listen to me, because I'll say this only once. Don't get ahead of yourself. You were just keeping the book warm till _I_ showed up. It's _my_ property, okay?"

"I don't like this, Akira." Boq said, baffled by the situation. "I don't know who this guy is…"

"Answer me this." Akira told the stranger. His voice was stern, like steel. "What's written on page twelve?"

"Huh?" the stranger tilted his head. "How should I know? I don't know this book by heart, I'm not a nerd."

"You have proven to me you're a liar."

"What? Wait, hold o—"

"This book contains strange powers," Akira interrupted him. "Which means it's important. If it were really yours, you'd cherish its knowledge. Additionally, the fact you lost the book in the first place further proves your unreliability."

"Hey, what are you getting at?" the stranger demanded.

"My final synopsis is this." To that, Akira adjusted his glasses. "It's not yours to have."

"Akira…" Boq was flabbergasted.

"Not mine?" the man echoed. "Maybe. You got spunk. Are you a sophomore?"

"My name is Matsubara Akira. I am a librarian for Nakajima Library."

"Bravo to you, Matsubara-san~!" he pressed on the honorific, extending the pronunciation to the point of mockery. "Frankly, I don't care. The power, however, it feels good, doesn't it? Well, don't get ahead of yourself. I said that before, right? Congratulations, you made me say it again." he clapped his hands.

The stranger carried on. "You're just a stuck-up punk. You must think you're on top of the world, even? Then again…" he paused and reached for something behind his back. When his hand was within Akira's field of vision again, there was a small book between his fingers. The stranger elevated it close to his face.

"That..!" Boq exclaimed. "Those are my pages! Not just one! A whole lot of them!"

Akira said nothing. His stare remained fixed on the stranger's. With his spare hand, the latter unzipped his leather jacket. Akira tensed the moment he spotted a belt similar to his own strapped around the other man's waist.

"It can't be..!" Boq shouted.

"What do I know?" the stranger said and slammed his book on the belt buckle's latch. The fore edge clicked with a loud declaration.

**DOMINUS!**

The stranger then hurled his arms parallel to the ground, after which he pulled back and kept crossed before his chest, the fingers posed as pistols.

"Henshin."

A graceful descent of his arms, a subtle rub of wrists on the cover and the book shot up and away from the buckle, erupting in a spiral of flying pages.

Letters separated from paper as they hovered before the stranger, coming together, apart, and together again, in a series of booming sentences.

**ANCIENT, FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE!  
WHAT'S THE KEY TO BREAK THE SEAL?!**

**KAMEN RIDER!**

The final words collided with the stranger, covering him in a red cloud. When the smoke parted, he stood clad in the armor of a Kamen Rider.

**LIBRARIUS VENEFICUS!**

"Do you get it now?" Veneficus said with renewed vigor. "You want the hard way, that's what you'll get. Time for you to witness the difference between us. Now hurry up and put yours on. I don't have all day."

Boq was panicking. "Akira, this is bad! What do we do?! This isn't any ordinary monster! That's a Kamen Rider, like you!"

Unaffected by neither the babbling, nor the situation he was in, Akira closed the book and took a step forward. Pulling his coat to the side, he lowered the latch on his belt's buckle and connected it with Boq's spine.

**ANIMUS!**

Upon the declaration's conclusion, Akira craned Boq to a position parallel to the pavement, causing the pages to shine with a radiant glow soon as it was reopened. Bending the elbow, Akira licked his outstretched thumb and with a similarly sharp movement grabbed hold of the page's corner.

"Henshin."

He flipped the page, causing the light to spill out in a column of brilliant white and bringing into existence an oversized quill. The spectral object then turned its tip to Akira and manically scratched at his form. Now cocooned by silky lines, fashioned after the bright light, cosmic voices cried out:

**THE QUILL THAT SHAPES THE PAGES OF THE BOOK OF PROPHECY!  
ITS NAME IS..!**

**KAMEN RIDER!**

The radiant shell exploded with a release of air and thunder and from the eye of the storm appeared Akira, resplendent in his sapphire armor, the beetle on his forehead soaring on upturned, golden wings.

**LIBRARIUS APPRENTICUS!**

Wordlessly, Akira assumed a forward bow stance and begun to circle Veneficus. The latter remained rooted on his spot, occasionally rotating so as to follow Akira with his steady stare. As soon as Veneficus reached for the book on his belt, Akira's pose shifted to the Tiger Claw's and immediately he pounced at his opponent.

Punch and kick were evaded all the same, with Veneficus shifting away from Akira's super-charged barrage like a leaf in a hurricane. He snaked around Akira's punches, over and under his pumped-up kicks, and flipped sideways and away from the Kamen Rider's sweep-into-roundhouse kick combo.

"I've seen enough from you." Veneficus said. Leisurely he opened his book. "I don't remember his name, but somebody once said, 'There is no instance of a nation benefitting from prolonged warfare.', or something like that. Was he Japanese?" He shrugged. "Now that I think about it, it's not important."

Akira straightened his posture and opened Boq. Sinking his hand inside the pages, he pulled out the Quill Arms spear, the same weapon he'd used to take down the jackal monster, Ubandi. With the weapon primed before him, Akira dashed at his opponent, the speartip leading the charge.

_Snap!_ Veneficus' fingers sounded.

Suddenly Akira's legs became heavier. The shift in weight broke his momentum and he fell over, but not before plunging the Quill Arms in the pavement. He leaned on it like an old man with a walking stick.

Still, Akira kept his composure. _I feel heavier_. he thought. _To the point where I can't move. Is that his power? Increasing people's weight?_ His mind raced to make connections. _Weight. Gravity. Gravitational pull. Is that it?_

"I just remembered another quote from that guy," Veneficus said as he approached his fellow Kamen Rider. "It went something like this: 'If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain to be in peril.' I don't need to be a genius to realize you're new to these powers. Now do me a favor and give me the book, okay? I'm not gonna say 'please' though, so don't get your hopes up."

Akira was oblivious to Veneficus taunts, instead struggling between keeping his balance and focusing on his train of thought. _It's the only logical explanation. My gravitational pull has increased. Or, at the very least, he's somehow tricking the force into believing I'm heavier than normal. How do I counter this?_

Somehow, the effect's intensity was increasing by the minute. The Quill Arms gradually gave more and more ground, cracking stone under its tip. Water started to surface from the cracks, the result of reaching the underground piping.

It was during that moment, when the water had pooled around his boots, that Akira had an epiphany.

"Eureka." he said under his breath.

"Huh?" Theatrically, Veneficus leaned forward and put a hand behind his ear. "What was that?"

"Eureka." Akira repeated, louder this time. "Eureka!"

"Hey, stop that." Veneficus protested. "Don't be a weirdo just because you lost. You look ridiculous."

Akira ignored him. "Boq, turn to page twelve."

"Turning!" the book abided, flipping through its contents. "Page twelve!"

"Force Change!" Akira declared. In reaction to that, the pool of water was sucked in by Akira's armor, the sapphire plating seemingly obtaining a glassy texture that filled with water; transparent containers.

With a cry, Akira boosted himself to full height, shattering the bonds of whatever invisible force was keeping him down. His armor shone like the emerald ocean on a bright, summer dawn.

**APPRENTICUS LAEVITAS!**

"Impossible." Veneficus recoiled. "How?"

"The Archimedes Principle." Akira replied matter-of-factly. "The story goes that Archimedes, the famed ancient Greek scientist, had to find the volume of the king's golden crown to determine if it was made of real gold. One day, while bathing, he noticed the water level increased as he entered the tub. As a result, he realized he could measure the crown by the displacement of water. Overwhelmed with happiness, he leapt out of the tub and shouted, 'Eureka!' over and over again.

"You used gravity against me, that much I know. All that was left was to figure out the opposite reaction. It's _buoyancy_."

"Buoyancy?" Veneficus tilted his head. "I don't see you floating. You're not Kamen Rider Fish, you know."

"It's simple." Akira retorted. "When positively buoyant, the force is so great, it can push any body upward and fight the gravitational pull. While you trick gravity, I," he pressed a thumb to his breastplate, "Tricked the most important component in this equation: The liquid's density that's stored in my armor. The disparity is now even.

"Sun Tzu, the man you were so incompetent to quote without proper recollection of his name, had also said, "Great results can be achieved with small forces.'"

"Oh?" Veneficus cooed. "And you think you can keep this up, no matter how much I multiply your gravitational pull?"

Akira readied his stance, a single palm raised in defiance. "I have three reasons to defeat you." he indicated with three outstretched fingers. "First, you disturbed the campus peace. Second, the reckless use of your powers endangers innocent lives. Third, you have exceeded my ten minutes of spare break activity, meaning my schedule is all messed up. Because of you, my day is ruined, so allow me to show you the exit."

To this challenge, Veneficus spread his legs further apart and leaned forward, a cornered predator ready to fight for dear life.

"You're a strange fellow." he considered. "Then again, what do I know?"

The two Kamen Riders threw themselves at each other, engaging in a clash of raised fists and matching kicks. With every successful parry, Veneficus snapped his fingers, doubling the gravitational pull, while on the other end Akira took time between dodges and calculated the precise amount necessary to alter the density and steady himself.

Push into flip, into kick, sweep, jump and arcing overhead punch, into a rapid barrage of jabs, Veneficus gave more and more ground to Apprenticus Laevitas. Snap after snap, the accumulated gravitational pull had begun to tear the ground under their feet apart. However, Veneficus' bobbing and weaving eventually wore him down, depleting his energy to the point where his remaining options were to simply absorb the hits with forearm block and shoulder roll.

Spotting a crack in the enemy Rider's defenses, Akira seized the chance to land a palm fist right on his enemy's solar plexus. Veneficus reeled, staggered by the sheer force of the impact. Without a second to waste, Akira cartwheeled backwards, pressed both his hands on the pavement and, with a final boost of buoyancy, threw himself into the air.

"Special finisher!"

Willing the density to drop, Akira's gravitational pull tugged at him with immense force, hurling his body to the ground with deadly speed. Using the momentum to his advantage, Akira twisted, transforming into a spinning arrow, raining down on Veneficus in a glimmering, emerald arc.

**BUOYANT RIDER KICK!**

His boots hit Veneficus square on the chest, building and building in power until he broke through, his armor steaming.

Veneficus' cry of defeat was drowned out by the ensuing explosion; a victorious testament to Apprenticus' resilience.

* * *

**NEXT TIME ON**: _Kamen Rider Librarius!_

"_Did you bring your work home?_"  
"_The Golden Rule._"  
"_I'm still worthy!_"  
"_Together._"  
**Victoria!**


	4. Page 4 - Together

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Welcome to the 4th Chapter of Librarius! After some consideration and experimentation, I've settled on a writing style for this story. I've also decided to not include an opening sequence, as I felt it would hinder the flow. Thank you very much for having read Librarius to this point! I hope you enjoy reading this chapter!

* * *

**DISCLAIMER**

This a fan-made, non-profit piece of fiction. Kamen Rider and its related trademarks are the property of Bandai Namco Entertainment and Toei Company.

* * *

Matsubara Akira wakes up every morning at 6:30 am.

The first thing he does when he gets off the bed is a brisk, 2-minute shower. Once he's finished with drying and combing his hair, Akira puts on his work clothes; his shirt and trousers, - which he's ironed the night before - followed by his shoes, belt, tie, vest, cufflinks and tie pin, in that precise order. The next step is in the kitchen, in which Akira prepares the coffee brewer and toaster, as well as the egg boiler.

This sequence spans, in its entirety, approximately 10 minutes.

Currently it's 6:40. Breakfast is served at 7:00, meaning Akira has twenty minutes to spare, a time gap that he utilizes by reading a book. His most recent acquirement was Franz Kafka's complete list of stories in their original, German printing. Collected in a neat, hardback tome, it was a beautiful book the color of red wine, a picture of the author captured in bas relief and situated at the right, uppermost corner of the cover. On its vertical end was written, _Franz Kafka, Gessamelte Werke_ in the same, gorgeous gold as the hue in Kafka's stoic portrait.

"Good morning, Akira."

Akira looked up from his book. The voice belonged to Hana, who had just walked down the stairs and met his gaze with a beam. She wore her dark hair in side-swept bangs that poured down to her shoulders, gracefully complementing the roundness of her cheeks.

"Good morning." Akira replied with a courteous bow. "I didn't expect you this early."

"What do you mean? It's five minutes before seven." Hana turned on the juicer. She reached into a cupboard and took out six plump oranges. Squeezing the juice out of the first three, she poured the contents in a glass and put it in front of Akira. "Here. Quickly, before the vitamins run away." she teased.

_Five minutes_, Akira pondered as he drank the entirety of the juice in one chug. He gave the finished glass to Hana with a 'Thank you.' and a bow before closing the book and putting it aside. Hana then set on the table two plates for Akira and herself, two more with toast and peeled, boiled eggs respectively, and finally two cups of coffee.

Once she took her seat, the two enjoyed a silent breakfast. Compared to Hana, Akira was a concise and systematic eater. Starting with an egg, he carried on with half a slice of cooked bread, into one more egg, also half. After refreshing his palate with a strong sip of black coffee, he finished the aforementioned egg and repeated his eating pattern, only this time he concluded with an entire slice of toast and the rest of his coffee.

Akira pressed his palms together in gratitude. "Thank you for the meal." He continued with, "I started _Der Prozess _last night. It translates into _The Trial_." Akira watched Hana eat as he talked. Whenever she could, she met his gaze with eyes brimming with enthusiasm. "It's about a man, Herr Josef K., who is one day arrested on charges of a crime he didn't know he'd committed."

"He didn't know?" Hana echoed. She bit on her toast and spoke again after she'd swallowed. "How is that possible?"

Akira thumbed his chin. "It's implied somebody slandered his name by spreading lies about Herr K. It's strange," he mused, crossing his arms. "How many thoughts cross his mind in the first chapter alone. He thinks about the pointlessness of suicide and the stupidity of the officers that don't even know why they're arresting him."

Hana listened intently. Akira went on. "It's very interesting. He's a man that's clearly done nothing wrong, but forces that are beyond his grasp seem to stir his peaceful life into a downward spiral. I sense that, no matter how hard he tries, he won't regain full control over his life. This idea is enough to raise the hairs at the back of my neck. It's almost frightening to think about."

"I see." Hana was leaning on her knuckle. She, too, had finished her breakfast now, but didn't want to disturb Akira's train of thought with her declaration of gratitude. "It must be a really good book to evoke such strong feelings on the first chapter."

"It is." Akira agreed. "Though I will admit, my German is not up to par, so this book as a whole is a slower read. On the other hand, it gives me time to better articulate my thoughts."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it." Hana replied with a smile that was all teeth. "You know, Kubo-san mentioned you the other day. He said you and Kafka-san are very similar." She giggled at the recollection.

Akira lifted his eyebrows. "Really? Kubo-san said that?" Hana nodded, to which Akira considered the possibility. Belatedly, he said in his deadpan expression, "I don't see it."

"You're pretty dense sometimes, Akira." Hana teased. She rose and begun stacking the plates. "But then again," she turned to him with a beam. "That's one of the reasons we're together."

* * *

They had separated the chores into two, even halves.

Akira was in charge of the dishes. He scrubbed the plates and coffee cups, but also the juicer's cups, the bowl and strainers, screw and drum lid. After a short rinse, so as not to wet his shirt, he cleaned each utensil and juicer component with thorough towel strokes. All the while Hana organized Akira's lunch box, dividing the various colorful foods in neat rows and simultaneously preparing anything in need of re-heating.

"Akira?" Hana called. "Can I ask you something?"

Akira shelved the coffee cups. "Of course." he replied and took the next thing in line for drying. "As a significant other, it is very important to communicate with you." Though he said it with the driest, most matter-of-fact manner, it still got a smile out of Hana.

"I saw your briefcase this morning, before I went to the shower. You'd forgotten to close it. There was even a blue book sticking out. Did you bring your work home?"

Akira cleared his throat and rubbed his scarab tie pin. "Yes," he replied. "I did. This book had nothing stamped on it. No title, label, publication or anything. When I asked Nakatani-senpai, neither he knew where it'd come from. I've never seen anything like it, but it's my duty as a librarian to catalogue it as soon as possible."

"I understand." Hana nodded. "It's perfectly okay, Akira. It was just very unusual, that was all."

"Yes, I suppose so." Akira agreed. Still, his mind drifted to yesterday's events. He was confident in the fact he'd packed and readied his suitcase the night before, which he always closed prior to his leisure time. How was it possible for it to have opened sometime during the night, let alone for the _Book of Qliphoth_ to have sat upright?

_What are you exactly?_ Akira remembered his recurring question to Boq. _Will I ever know?_

* * *

It's 13:00; break time in Nakajima Library.

"What would you like to drink? We have water, juice and coffee."

"Coffee is good."

"Okay." Akira got up and left the table. He promptly returned with a can of _Suntory Boss_ black coffee. "Here." He handed it over. "We only have this variant. I apologize if it's not to your tastes."

Gingka cracked it open and took a sip. "No need," he replied with a theatrical smack of lips. "Black is my favorite. I've loved it since I visited Greece, but there they brew it on a gas stove. It's very rich in aroma and flavor." He studied the can as he spoke, rolling it around in his loose grip. "I heard that in some villages they use it to see the future too."

Akira nodded, silently taking in the other man's trivia. Gingka drank some more coffee and carried on. "The method originated from Turkey, but these two countries have a very interesting history. After all the Greeks were, what, four hundred years under Turkish rule? Their spite ran so deep that they changed the name to 'Greek coffee'. It's funny how even something so trivial as coffee was affected from this turmoil."

"You're well informed." Akira said.

Gingka answered with a grin. "I can speak more than fifty languages, you know." he boasted. "I'm not dumb, it's just part of my act. A magician doesn't reveal his secrets, right?" He raised his hands and spread his fingers. "_Dojyaaa~~n_!"

Akira jumped straight to the point. "The _Book of Qliphoth_." He reached inside his briefcase and set it between them, open, so that Boq could contribute to their discussion. "Please tell me what you know about it."

To that, Gingka raised his brow. "You're very uptight." He sighed, again in his pseudo-dramatic style. "Besides, do you believe that I will spill everything just because you whooped me back then? That's pretty arrogant, librarian-san."

Akira remained silent for a while, remembering the fight in its entirety, capped by the Buoyant Rider Kick. His poker face almost tensed at the unnecessary brutality. "Yes." he replied. Slowly, he lowered his head, pressing both his forehead and palms on the table. "I apologize for my treatment towards you. I want you to understand that I am not a violent person and that I encourage civil discourse. I admit to ignoring that possibility when I confronted you. I don't know what came over me. Please believe and forgive me."

Akira's delivery was stale, but Gingka could sense the sincerity behind each word. "The book's power…" he mused. "I told you not to get ahead of yourself." Akira didn't respond. Belatedly, Gingka shrugged. "Well, what do I know? Anyway, I forgive you, so get up. It's embarrassing to watch the man who beat me grovel."

"Thank you." Akira said and straightened his posture. "Let's use this opportunity to exchange information. Before we start, however, I wanted to ask you this: Can you hear Boq's voice?"

"Boq?" Gingka questioned. He looked at the _Book of Qliphoth_. "This?" he pointed. "Voice? What is it, an audiobook?"

"How rude!" Boq protested. "The book that saw so many civilizations rise and fall, being called a… whatever an audiobook is!"

"Be quiet." Akira shot Boq an impassive stare.

"I'm being bullied and can't even defend myself…" Boq mumbled concedingly.

"You're telling me the book can speak?" Gingka questioned.

"When I first met Boq, he'd mentioned that only the book's owner could hear its voice. I was quick to reject your claims before, but now I can confirm you're not the book's owner. Unless," Akira thumbed his chin, "based on the fact I opened Boq after a supposedly long period of inactivity, the ownership changed."

"I can neither confirm, nor deny that. I'm definitely not the 'first' first owner." Gingka continued Akira's train of thought. "My book," he patted a spot on his leather jacket. "That's how I learned about the _Book of Qliphoth_. I've been filling it with new pages ever since I discovered it."

"Good." Akira nodded. "The mention of pages brings me to my next point. Boq has told me that page monsters are amalgamated energy that's been tainted. Is it possible to determine when or where a page monster might appear?"

"Well, about that," Gingka's gaze sharpened. "I've been doing this for quite a while, actually. I think I have a good grasp as to how their gimmick works. Listen up, because I'll only say this once:

There's a certain duration between monster appearances. Once I timed the difference between a new appearance and my previous encounter, I got an exact number. After that, it was the same for the rest. Furthermore, the page monsters always appeared within a certain proximity to my book, though the place in question was random. However, they're attracted to its 'scent', so it's in their nature to be drawn to the book. Still, it's a vague feeling, so their best bet is to search places with lots of books. I called this method of deduction, _The Golden Rule_."

"Rules." Akira said matter-of-factly.

"Huh?" Gingka looked at him puzzlingly. "What about them?"

"Your methodology's name is _The Golden Rule_. Grammatically, it's okay, but factually it's incorrect." Akira explained. "You are referring to multiple rules, specifically four." he emphasized with four raised fingers. "Therefore the proper terminology should be _The Golden Rules_."

"What's it to you, eh?" Gingka crossed his arms. "_I_ deduced the rules, I can call _my_ method whatever I want."

"As a librarian," Akira adjusted his glasses. "It is very important for my work performance to care for the proper use of language. You," he said in his dispassionate, wooden tone, "are _wrong_."

"Well, what about it?" Gingka retorted. His own tone was raised now.

"That's a rhetorical question. As such, I do not need to answer it."

"Oh yeah?!"

"You did it again."

"Well, whatever, _stupid_!"

"They're bickering like children." Boq thought aloud. "This is so embarrassing…"

* * *

The hourly break has passed. It's 14:56.

"This is boring." Gingka mused. He sat hunched on a bench that overlooked the whole plaza, Nakajima Library at its end. The _Suntory Boss_ can hung from his fingertips. "Why did I agree to wait?"

_My work shift ends at 17:30. We will continue our discussion then. Please wait for me patiently_. he remembered Akira telling him. For some strange reason, Gingka had affirmed the librarian with a silent nod.

He drank some coffee. "This guy is nothing but trouble. Always doing things at certain times and expecting me to put up with it. I can up and leave, easy peasy." he considered. "But then how would I get the _Book of Prophecy_? Come to think of it, why did I tell him my _Golden Rule_ to begin with? The less information I give away, the better my chances become of snatching the book.

"Snatching?" he repeated. His eyes tensed, grew cold, like ice. "Is that what I am now? Just because he beat me so easily, this Matsubara Akira…" He paused and took another sip from his can. "I wonder what _he_ would think if he saw me like this? Ah man, I'm letting him down, aren't I?" Gingka rubbed his forehead.

"What am I doing, doubting myself? I haven't done that once since I started this quest. So what if I lost?" As his monologue went on, Gingka's voice strengthened with newfound resolve. "This is but one more obstacle, except tougher than the rest! No mountain, no matter how tall or menacing, can stop Gingka! I'm still worthy!"

And at that moment, as if fate herself had smiled down upon Gingka, he heard a distant, feminine cry of panic, followed by a blood-curdling roar. It was a certain sign, something Gingka had heard many times before.

"A page monster!" Instantly, he rose from the bench. "This is my opportunity. I'll get that page before him. I _will_ become stronger!"

* * *

Tried as he could, Akira's gaze constantly looked away from the computer, as if mesmerized by the briefcase under his desk. He attempted to distract himself by pinching his bridge, or drinking some water, but the result was always the same.

Eventually he yielded. Pulling the _Book of Qliphoth_ from inside the briefcase, Akira opened it and placed it to his right. "Boq," he called as he resumed typing. The book didn't respond. "Boq." he repeated, this time more assertively.

"_Pwah!_" Boq exclaimed. "What is it, Akira? I was sleeping…" it said drowsily.

"Don't lie to me. You're an inanimate object," the young man stated. "You don't have a need for rest."

"Hey, I'm trying to be discreet!" Akira put a finger before his mouth. "Oh! Sorry." Boq adjusted its voice to the library's quiet standards. "You're the same when you work as when you eat. I didn't want to disturb you."

"Can I ask you something? It's been irking me for some time." Akira confessed. "Gingka mentioned a 'power' that you possess. Not once, but twice. What did he mean by that?"

"I have many powers." Boq replied. "You said it yourself, I'm important. Still, no matter how hard I try, I can't remember why, let alone remember what my exact powers are. Maybe I have a starting set of pages that detail my purpose. If we found those, I'm sure I'd remember."

"I see." Akira nodded. "It's mere speculation, but we cannot ignore the possibility."

Still, his mind was fixed on his error in judgement and the potential ties to the 'power', as Gingka had hinted. _Is it possible that the book tampers with temptation? _he wondered. _Does it make a person more protective towards it, or does it give strength to their greed without realizing it?_

"Matsubara-san! Matsubara-san!"

Akira's train of thought was derailed. He turned to meet his colleague, Okamoto Ena. She was a year younger than Akira, short and perky, with chocolate, pixie-cut hair. Despite the thick, black sweater she wore, Ena never seemed to sweat.

She was alarmed. Under stress, Akira had noticed, Ena tugged at her sleeves and constantly stroked them with her thumbs. "What is the matter, Okamoto-san?"

"Oh it's terrible, Matsubara-san, they're back and they… They—" Ena gulped, putting a stop to her rantings. She let out a shaky breath, which helped with her composure. "I saw the monsters," she managed. "The ones from two days ago, they were near the university entrance. The masked man Nakatani-senpai had mentioned, I saw him fighting them. What do we do? Please tell me." she concluded with a bow.

Cooly, Akira replied with, "Find Nakatani-senpai. With his help, evacuate the people from the rear exit. I will call the main building staff office and inform them about this."

"Okay." Ena nodded and headed for the nearest wing in search of their supervisor. Akira waited for her to build a relative distance between them, after which he turned to Boq.

"Let's go."

"Right!"

* * *

It's 15:10 when Librarius Apprenticus makes a dash for the front entrance of Akita International University.

The circular driveway was swarming with sand soldiers. All of them were converging on Librarius Veneficus, who kept his ground on the central patch of lawn with tooth and nail. Weaving between their sickle swipes with great finesse, he used their long swings against them by striking at weak points or hurling them at each other, mummy toppling over mummy and breaking down into golden grains.

Leading them from the back lines was the page monster: A hulking, mummified warrior. He was a bundled mass of thick, almost rope-like bandages, clad in armor caked with sand. Its kilt reached the ankles and was layered by hanging belts, held together by a sparrow's skull. Both the gold necklace around its neck and its hedjet were adorned with multiple jewels, while its arms, one spindly and the other strong and readied with pauldron and leather vambrace, were equipped with a pair of elongated claws and khopesh blade respectively.

Akira charged into the mummy battalion, sliding and front-flipping between them, not once breaking his momentum in this game of duck and dodge. He had reached Gingka in a matter of seconds.

The Riders' backs pressed against each other. Veneficus knocked a goon off balance and looked over his shoulder. "What're _you_ doing here?!"

"I have three reasons." Akira started, but paused in order to push back his end of the advance. Grabbing hold of a sand soldier by the shoulders, he turned it around and kicked it in the waist, sending the mummy flying. "One, I love my work environment and wish to protect it. Two, I wish to collect the page. And—"

Apprenticus decked a soldier in the jaw, his momentum causing his upper body to arch. This in turn boosted the swinging force on Veneficus' end. At the conclusion of that short trade, the Kamen Riders had switched places. "Three," Akira continued, "I want us to unite and combine our powers. That way, we will be stronger."

"Your head's full of hot air!" Veneficus objected. "I'm nobody's lackey and last time I checked, I didn't owe you any favors."

"Gingka-san, this is more about rivalry. In fact, it's my firm belief that you're a valuable asset for the book's completion. Believe me when I say I am willing to reach a compromise with you, but we have to set our priorities straight."

Veneficus scoffed, though it came off more like a drowned chuckle. "You know what, librarian-san? " Even in a time of urgency, an instance that relied on concentration and readiness, he found time to draw out the honorific. "I'm starting to dislike you less."

Akira nodded, relieved to recognize the sincerity in Gingka's voice. "Together." he said and readied his fists.

"Together." Veneficus agreed.

The page monster let out a bellow and the sand warriors doubled their fighting efforts. Compared to Apprenticus and Veneficus, however, their movements were predictable and sluggish. Sickles flew and clashed with armored forearms and knees, easily deflected and opening the monsters up for punishing barrages.

"Listen, librarian-san," Gingka said amidst the hectic brawl. "Because I'll only say this once. I don't 'trick' gravity, I 'borrow' it. In other words…" A soldier came at him. Veneficus rolled its sickle away with his book and jabbed the latter at the monster's face. "I take the gravitational pull from surrounding objects and focus it on one spot. Usually it's from nearby buildings, since the foundations prevent them from floating."

"Clever." Akira admitted, his fists moving swiftly, like thunderbolts. "In that instance…" He stopped a sand soldier dead on its tracks and, with a flick of his wrists, hurled it in the air and let it crash on the pavement. At this window of opportunity, he craned the _Book of Qliphoth_ down.

Only then did Gingka realize Akira had been holding onto a bottle of mineral water.

Screwing the top open, Akira raised the bottle over his head and let it pour all over him. When he was done, he pressed on the plastic bottle till it was a stump, sealed it and tossed it to the nearest recycling bin. It fell straight through the entry hole; a clean three-pointer.

"Boq. Force Change, page twelve."

"Yes, yes!"

The book's pages turned until they'd reached the near beginning of its contents. Apprenticus' sapphire breastplate and pauldrons sucked in the water, encasing him in a bright light that staggered the surrounding sand soldiers. When the shine faded, the Kamen Rider's armor hue had shifted into transparent flasks of a vibrant emerald that encased the absorbed water.

**APPRENTICUS LAEVITAS!**

The upgraded Apprenticus wasted no time. "Gingka, duck!"

Veneficus replied in a heartbeat. Akira then jumped into the air and kicked his leg up in a 180-degree roundhouse kick that splashed water at every sand soldier around him. Like a deadly whip-crack, the water struck the goons, its density altered so as to lift them off their feet, leaving them to hover. Puzzled by this strange twist, the sand soldiers thrashed, struggling to stand upright.

"Now!"

Veneficus stood at full height and closed his book, the subtle snap creating an airwave that boomed like a thunderclap. The invisible force, tripled by Gingka's pseudo-amplification, pulled all creatures back to the ground, pushing down at their fickle bodies with brutal might.

**VICTORIA!**

With a fingersnap came down a second wave of all-powerful force, slamming onto the creatures like the deafening buck of a cavalry's warhammer. All was ground to dust, carried away by a subsequent, calming breeze.

Akira turned to the mummified warrior in charge, which stared in disbelief. Side by side with Gingka, he raised his palm in a defiant stance, while his fellow Rider nonchalantly read his book with one arm behind his back.

"You marched your army against us without any prior terms of negotiation. As a matter of fact, I doubt you can form any words to begin with." To that, the creature gave an unintelligible gurgle. Akira carried on. "You display neither the interest, nor the attitude for a healthy discourse. So," he declared, giving the page monster a thumbs-up before promptly turning it upside-down. "Allow me and my partner to show you the exit."

In return, the warrior readied its khopesh and brandished its claws. "You don't get it, do you, freak?" Gingka peeked over his raised book. "You'd rather fight to the death than run away and lick your wounds? Well, whatever. A brave or a fool, it makes no difference to us. Then again, what do I know?"

With a final cry of blind rage, the towering warrior ran at them. The Kamen Riders split, letting the monster get between them. Now able to attack him in a war of two fronts, Apprenticus and Veneficus coordinated their strikes to target their opponent's vulnerable points, each set of perfectly timed attacks producing twice the intended damage on their adversary. Tried as it might, however, the mummy's swings hit nothing but air, as every slash and claw aimed at one end left it open to a flurry from the opposing Rider.

"Librarian-san, now!"

"Osu!"

Fully synchronizing their movements, the Kamen Riders drew back one fist each, then they sprung them forward in a joined uppercut that collided with the page monster's chin, the united, built-up power launching it into the air. Seizing the initiative, Veneficus did two backward flips and secured his position. All the while Apprenticus Laevitas clapped his hands together and begun spinning in place. So fast did he gyrate that he'd soon turned into a jade green blur; an emerald drill.

"Hear me, monster." Gingka pointed at it with a finger pistol. "My name is Gingka. Memorize it well, so that when you return to the whole, you'll remember who it is that claims you."

With one, last fingersnap, Veneficus pounded the page monster with a mountainous gravitational pull that sent it plummeting right on top of Apprenticus Laevitas' lethal spin. The two opposing forces ground against each other until one eventually gave way. Unfortunately for the oversized mummy, Apprenticus' density fought back the persistent assault with relative ease, essentially nullifying the resistance and leaving the page monster stuck between an unstoppable force and an immovable object.

As one voice Akira and Gingka cried out the final declaration:

**GEMINAE TORCULAR CRUSH!**

It's 15:25 when the monster comes apart, wailing, in an explosive cascade of bandages.

* * *

"You want to switch phone numbers?" Gingka nodded, to which Akira continued with, "Why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ginka crossed his arms. "You're making it sound weirder than it actually is."

Akira was unconvinced. "Does this mean you accept my partnership offer?"

"Well, yeah. But before you get all buddy-buddy with me, let me make myself clear." Here, Gingka's laxness was replaced by solemnity. "I don't blame you for thinking like you did: Two heads are better that one, and besides I have more knowledge than you on that front. However, I'm not fighting for _you_. I'll help gather the pages, but anything I earn, I get to keep for myself. I want the book for my own gain. When it's complete, _I_ will be your final enemy."

Akira rose from his seat, his eyes locked with Gingka's. "In the end," he replied with similar resolve, "the game comes down to one thing: man against man." He offered an open hand. "May the best man win."

Gingka smirked and happily shook hands with Akira.

They proceeded to trade numbers. Gingka had Nokia flip-phone that dated back to 2008. Despite its evident age, it seemed to be in pristine condition. Slick in design and smooth in motion, its subscreen showed the time at any given point, while its white frame was decorated with an assortment of cartoony animal stickers.

"By the way," Akira said. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, ask away."

"Your name, Gingka, is it your real name?"

"Huh?" Gingka tilted his head, evidently confused. "What kind of question is that?"

"It's an odd name. Rather, it's very rare." Akira corrected himself.

"Really? Well, supposedly, it's the best Japanese translation for my real name. A geezer from Akita gave it to me. Hey, why is it rare?" He inquired. "Does it age back to the feudal period or something?" The thought brought a glimmer to his eye. "Whoa! What if it's tied to samurai?!"

"It could be," Akira thumbed his chin, "Seijuu Sentai…"

"What was that?" Gingka had distracted himself with romanticized samurai fantasies. When he turned around, he found Akira kneeling on one leg and holding up his arms like they were spread wings.

"_Gingaman_?"

One of Akira's lateral commissures pulled at the muscle spastically. He was struggling to smirk. Gingka stared, his face scrunched from cringing. "Is that some sort of reference? What are you, an otaku..?"

"His jokes are so lame…" added the _Book of Qliphoth_, which sat open on Akira's desk.

* * *

**NEXT TIME ON**: _Kamen Rider Librarius!_

"_What's that..?!_"  
"_You're stretching yourself too thin._"  
"_I refuse._"  
"_Do you trust me?_"  
**Fraus!**


End file.
